Kerkko Koskinen

Kerkko Koskinen is principally known to Finns as the songwriter, keyboard player and leader of the hugely popular band Ultra Bra in the 1990s. Even in those days, he was ambitious and uncompromising in writing music, and that has not changed. He has since written music for instance for the 60-member Kerkko Koskinen Kollektiivi and for the UMO Jazz Orchestra, besides writing film scores and incidental music for the stage. The lyrics he sets are typically of high quality and profound, e.g. poetry by Anna Akhmatova. “Koskinen’s cinematic pop-song style quotes from modal jazz and schlagers in turn, but all of his music prompts romantic and nostalgic emotions,” writes Otto Talvio.